A Non-Believer in Church: First Free Will Baptist at Iuka
My travels brought me through Iuka this past Sunday, so I stopped by the First Free Will Baptist Church. I stepped in the door, picked up a bulletin, and sat on the back pew just after 11 AM. This is a small church with only about 100 in attendance. For a church this small, they had a piano, an organ, and an electric guitar. 20 members made up the choir. The bulletin said that today is the first day of a 6 day revival meeting and the church was providing "OLD-FASHION PREACHING DAY AND NIGHT". I was about to discover their meaning of "old-fashion preaching."
The services began with choir singing, a duet, a solo, and a long, rambling fast spoken prayer. People were lifting their hands and standing and hollering "Praise the Lord!" and "Praise Jesus" when the passion came to them. The preacher got up to deliver his lesson, but before he got very far, a man stood up to tell everyone how much Jesus helped him with his life. This didn't seemed planned. This man talked for a few minutes before he sat back down. The preacher spoke about half a sentence when a woman stood up and told everyone about how Jesus solves all our problems. She talked for a few minutes about how Jesus worked in her life and then sat down. I guess this preacher is use to constant interruptions.
The preacher finally got a chance to give his lesson on Isaiah 59:1-4. His talk was about sin. To give you an idea of his preaching style, think of Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" hyped up on steroids. He knew how to get this mostly elderly congregation pumped up and going strong for JESUS! He gave his congregation a long list of sins, all while shouting at the top of his lungs. He called "baby killing" a sin and homosexuality a sin and told everyone to speak out against any sign of sin, even if they have family members who might be engaged in that sort of activity. He wanted to bring the Bible and prayer back into our schools. He warned his congregation that if they tried to bring the Bible into schools, the government would oppose them, but do not worry: God will be on the side of God, and God's side always wins. Everything the preacher said was shouted. The people shouted "Praise the Lord!", "Praise Jesus!", and "Amen" through all of this. The preacher was talking fast and loud and everyone had their hands up in the air. I felt like I was at a cattle auction without any cattle.
When I listen to sermons in any church, I try to look at the lesson with an objective mindset. Where was the preacher right? Where was he wrong? Did everything he say agree with the Bible that he claims to have read? You couldn't do that to any point in this preacher's lesson. He was stereotypical of everything that non-believers see in Christians: they are loud, obnoxious, ignorant, and filled with prejudice and self-righteous attitudes. It is hard not to stereotype when I'm watching Christian fundamentalism in action. It could be summarized in one line that the preacher spoke during his lesson: "Now church... don't go out an tell your friends that I told you to get rid of your televisions, but if the Lord tells you to get rid of your television, you don't sell it, YOU BEAT IT WITH A BASEBALL BAT!" This, in all honesty, scared me. The lesson ended with a prayer, but I couldn't understand a word of it because everyone was still shouting their "Amens". What good is a public prayer if no one hears it?
The services ended with some announcements, which were the only even-tempered part of the whole service. In a very clam manner, it was announced that there will be a women's lunch event later this week. The final prayer was given and everyone woke up from their trance. They talked (at a regular volume) and acted like it was another normal Sunday. One lady introduced herself to me, but at this point, I was making a dash for the door.
I'm heading north of Oxford next weekend, so that's where I'll report next time for church (if I recover from this week).
Tags: atheist, Mississippi, church, Iuka, First Free Will Baptist Church, Jesus, preacher, bible, homosexuality, god, Christian, prayer, Oxford
The services began with choir singing, a duet, a solo, and a long, rambling fast spoken prayer. People were lifting their hands and standing and hollering "Praise the Lord!" and "Praise Jesus" when the passion came to them. The preacher got up to deliver his lesson, but before he got very far, a man stood up to tell everyone how much Jesus helped him with his life. This didn't seemed planned. This man talked for a few minutes before he sat back down. The preacher spoke about half a sentence when a woman stood up and told everyone about how Jesus solves all our problems. She talked for a few minutes about how Jesus worked in her life and then sat down. I guess this preacher is use to constant interruptions.
The preacher finally got a chance to give his lesson on Isaiah 59:1-4. His talk was about sin. To give you an idea of his preaching style, think of Jonathan Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" hyped up on steroids. He knew how to get this mostly elderly congregation pumped up and going strong for JESUS! He gave his congregation a long list of sins, all while shouting at the top of his lungs. He called "baby killing" a sin and homosexuality a sin and told everyone to speak out against any sign of sin, even if they have family members who might be engaged in that sort of activity. He wanted to bring the Bible and prayer back into our schools. He warned his congregation that if they tried to bring the Bible into schools, the government would oppose them, but do not worry: God will be on the side of God, and God's side always wins. Everything the preacher said was shouted. The people shouted "Praise the Lord!", "Praise Jesus!", and "Amen" through all of this. The preacher was talking fast and loud and everyone had their hands up in the air. I felt like I was at a cattle auction without any cattle.
When I listen to sermons in any church, I try to look at the lesson with an objective mindset. Where was the preacher right? Where was he wrong? Did everything he say agree with the Bible that he claims to have read? You couldn't do that to any point in this preacher's lesson. He was stereotypical of everything that non-believers see in Christians: they are loud, obnoxious, ignorant, and filled with prejudice and self-righteous attitudes. It is hard not to stereotype when I'm watching Christian fundamentalism in action. It could be summarized in one line that the preacher spoke during his lesson: "Now church... don't go out an tell your friends that I told you to get rid of your televisions, but if the Lord tells you to get rid of your television, you don't sell it, YOU BEAT IT WITH A BASEBALL BAT!" This, in all honesty, scared me. The lesson ended with a prayer, but I couldn't understand a word of it because everyone was still shouting their "Amens". What good is a public prayer if no one hears it?
The services ended with some announcements, which were the only even-tempered part of the whole service. In a very clam manner, it was announced that there will be a women's lunch event later this week. The final prayer was given and everyone woke up from their trance. They talked (at a regular volume) and acted like it was another normal Sunday. One lady introduced herself to me, but at this point, I was making a dash for the door.
I'm heading north of Oxford next weekend, so that's where I'll report next time for church (if I recover from this week).
Tags: atheist, Mississippi, church, Iuka, First Free Will Baptist Church, Jesus, preacher, bible, homosexuality, god, Christian, prayer, Oxford
13 comments:
Wow! You are absolutely right that this sort of thing shows atheists that there are stereotypical Christian extremists in our communities. I realize there are kind, tolerant Christians as well, but I wonder if they are as outraged by this sort of thing as they should be.
The idea that a self-proclaimed man of god would stand up in front of a church and tell the audience that homosexuality was a sin and that it was their duty to speak out against gay family members is so terribly sad. This is precisely the sort of church I have in mind when I speak of Christian extremism.
Hey you guys.
Oliver, I just want to say that this is an incredibly cool thing for a person with atheist views to do. I find your observations of these services very interesting.
And yes, there are stereotypical extremists in our communities. Extremists don't all live in the stereotypical prefab compounds in the woods. There are some kind, tolerant Christians as well, of course. And they're all mixed up together in a lot of cases.
Lots of folks go to a church because they know others there or because they grew up there and just tune out the parts they don't agree with. I'm not saying that's a good way for Christians to practice their faith; I'm just saying that they do it. I've seen it in churches all my life.
And there are some who hold extremist views on one or two issues, but mostly shelter themselves from the objects of their extremism and so you very rarely hear them say extremist things or act on those views. So they seem normal, but they pass their extremism on to their children.
There's lots of complexity to the situation, and I don't really know what do do about it except call attention to it like you're doing and encourage Christians not to support stuff like this.
And it irks me that there are so many sermons like this being preached across the country every week while other, more important topics are ignored. Predatory lending practices a major factor in our current economic woes. And payday loan companies encourage desperate people to make the sorts of bad decisions that destroy families and ruin lives. Yet, I can't tell you the last time I heard a sermon preached on the subject of usury. Maybe sometime in the early 80s.
geneo, I appreciate your comments. In my town back home (not in Mississippi), predatory lender offices are appearing, and the churches don't see it as a threat. They are still preoccupied with the possibility of homosexuals coming to their small town. I wish I could magically close all of those lending offices. I wish I could redirect people to the banks who will pay them a little interest on their money. Poverty seems to be the easiest problem to ignore.
This is truly frightening. I've always been curious about the Free Will Baptists and I wonder now if this congregation is representative of the whole. I know one thing for sure - my Southern Baptist parents would not have felt very good about what was said and done at that service.
Why do you visit churches?
Dear sir, I'm sorry your visit to our church was disturbing to you. We are a group of people who choose to love and serve our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (you can read about Him in history). He offers us a higher thinking and knowing than our educational system can produce. I would like for people to know that some of the things you put in your article were not true, didn't happen the way that you wrote. I would also like for them to know that the people who testified to God's touch on their lives are wonderful, kind hearted and gentle people that love the Lord. Our pastor, as well as the rest of us, love and encourage these testamonies (we don't consider them interruptions). We are taught to love the person but not the acts that they do by our pastor and that through God's word. By the way readers no one says amen or anything else during a prayer, Mr. Oliver maybe the Lord is the one you are hearing. Yes, we have varying degrees of education in our church as I can tell by your article you have varying degrees of educated and uneducated athiest. God bless you sir and it is my prayer that you will ever be surrounded by the kind, loving and gentle people you were among on that April day that (who or why) you stopped by the First Freewill Baptist Church in IUka.
Very interesting experience. I grew-up attending a Free Will Baptist Church in Oklahoma and also received a bachelors degree from a Free Will Baptist College in Oklahoma. I've traveled many miles since those days and hold a much different perspective on life (and religion). I do, however, believe that the Free Will Baptist people you observed were similar to many country churches (whether they be Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, etc) and are most likely sincere and good people. For those that are appalled at teachings against homosexuality and abortion- please wake up. This has been at the heart of fundamentalist teachings for over 50 years and isn't going to change anytime soon.
Before any of us that claim to be Christians in this forum cast any judgment- be careful. Its a slippery slope when one criticizes the beliefs and practices of others.
As far as an avowed atheist spending time analyzing churches... very interesting- I'm sure a therapist would have a hey day with you :-). Certainly an interesting pastime. I enjoyed your writing and will check back in the future.
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